Westone T-shirts...?

Following on from a discussion on stickers with the Westone 'brand', a number of hardcore 'Toners' (if it hasn't been coined, I am claiming first statement!) reckoned they would go for a shirt or two.

You people know who you are!

I have submitted the bird element to Spreadshirt. I await their decision on whether it passes on being able to be printed.

They reckon on a 48 hour turnaround.

Once it is approved, I am getting an estimate of somewhere between £10-£20 per shirt, cost. I, again, want to get one product created and sent to me, so that I can approve the quality of design, from that point, I will create a couple of 'products' in my shop, for people to peruse for purchase.

I am going to put these up at the lowest cost that I can. I do not want to make any money out of it, for a number of reasons:

1st, it ain't my logo, and I have no idea on who owns the logo, brand, shape, etc. I am now aware of the CafeExpress shop that sells shirts with the logo. Now, I am a fan of the logo, the product that I own, and I am pretty sure that Barry, Corsair, Thorn, bowenjaybee, Westbone, Annoying Twit, et al are also fans.

2nd, whilst there is a cost involved in producing shirts, I believe that once that cost has been covered (mainly, by SpreadShirt) and the fragment of my time in redrawing said logo to get the highest quality reproduction, all other reasons for doing so are for the increase of the awareness of the guitars, their excellence, and not 'for profit'.

So... once I have approval from SpreadShirt, I will create the variations of available shirts from SpreadShirt (long sleeve, short sleeve, v-neck, polo, etc) and place the 'Westone' shapes in the best place(s) to _my_taste for you guys to pass opinion on in the best way possible... by ordering the damn things!

Thank you, and good night!

+1

Me too. Great idea.

Design has been approved and I have ordered a product using it.

Will let you know how it goes...

Have been told that the shirt has been despatched. Should have it in a couple of days.

Have found supplier for 'Toner' plectrums, if anyone is interested. Need democratic vote for thickness/guage. See other thread...

DreamRaven wrote:...Need democratic vote for thickness/guage...

Oh, good luck with that!

We have three votes for Medium Light .71mm at the moment!

make that 4 votes, I'll have 30

People

The postman delivered again yesterday. Spreadshirt done good!

http://dreamraven.spreadshirt.co.uk/

Images taken this morning of the shirt that I am now wearing.


Just 'unboxed'


A shot (rather poor on my phone, I'm afraid) showing the size of the logo, next to a UK penny


Hopefully showing the silver logo, against the black.


In its full, long sleeved glory.

There are five products on my Spreadshirt store, two black short sleeved shirts, with a white logo, a classic white shirt with a black logo, a long sleeved shirt with a silver logo, and a grey hoodie with a white logo.

http://dreamraven.spreadshirt.co.uk/

If anybody wants a different style (polo shirts, sweatshirts, shorts, whatever) let me know here, and I will layout another product and put it in the shop. If you want it REALLY bespoke, tell me colours and logo position and I will lay it up for you. (Maybe, those guys with the maniacally coloured red guitars want a shirt that is close in colour to it? Shout guys, shout!)

Spreadshirt deals with pretty much everything, taking the money, producing the shirt and delivery. All I do is produce the logo and create the products. Of course, if you have any issues, please let me know, and I will do my best to sort it out.

Nice! I shall be placing an order directly....

Yes; the 'maniacal red' would be nice as would a blueburst!!! (you can't it, but I'm nodding my head vigorously for blueburst!!)

brilliant stuff dreamraven, well done

+1

Yep, well done Raven

Thinking about an oversize hoodie with a Ziggy Stardust lightning flash to go with the one on my Dimension IV. That'll go down well on jazz practice nights

I have added some requested products to the shop, including gold logos on black, red shirts and blue shirts.

Apologies, Corsair, Spreadshirt do not make any colour sunburst shirts, I tried, but no luck.

http://dreamraven.spreadshirt.co.uk

If you have any further requests, let me know and I will see what I can do...

DreamRaven wrote:Apologies, Corsair, Spreadshirt do not make any colour sunburst shirts, I tried, but no luck.

Oh well then... I'm gutted, of course, but will have to console myself by buying a red one, and a blue one, and a black one with white bird and a..... well, you get the picture, eh!!

Just good work, there, bro... I'll go in with intent come payday!!!

Man... I really want one but I just can't justify $22 and overseas shipping on a t-shirt right now. Hopefully I can grab a t-shirt and stickers and some picks/plectrums next time I get a paycheck, been wanting a gold logo on black tee for a long while...

And Corsair, you could dye the edges a darker blue, maybe?

Tie and Dye, John, ... that will give a similar effect and all from your kitchen sink!

Blue burst here we come. In fact you could have lots of little bluebursts all over your shirt to keep each other company.

That's exactly what I was thinking, although dying just the edges might look more like a proper burst.

Thank you for your suggestions, gentlemen; I shall take them under advisement.

Dye with the tie, definitely!

Man, I am losing my touch! I used to Tie-dye loads of shirts when I was a kid. All you need is some bleach and some of that Dylon fabric dye (easy to get hold of in the UK) if you want multicolours, or just the bleach if you want the original colour to fade.

The stronger the water/bleach solution, the 'whiter' the fade goes.

I hasn't to add that I wouldn't want to guarantee the print, but it certainly looks solidly printed to deal with one or two dyes, followed by a spin rinse on a washing machine cycle. It may also give that 'beaten in' aged look that is so in vogue with 'classic' guitars, these days.

My personal take is that I like a beaten in guitar as much as I like a beaten in car or motorcycle. Yes, guitar's get unavoidable dinks and things whilst they are being used, and if they were accidental, or by you, or by the previous owner, whilst IN USE, that is cool, it is fine, it is part of the 'character' of the instrument.

BUT

Taking the metalwork of a guitar and throwing it in the washing machine with some rocks, and then dragging the body around the garden and hitting it with a chain, before putting it back together, as a way of making the guitar earn MORE money on eBay? Not even if the whole thing came from Fender's custom shop in the first place. I have a load of guitar bits waiting on the two projects that are in my head (and in my shed) but they are both personal, custom, VISUAL ideas that I want to experiment with. When I have that, then I will start putting in the bareknuckle pups and the rest of the machinery in there. Strangely, they also won't have anybody else's brand on the headstock, not even Westone's. There maybe a bird on it, but it will be a DreamRaven...

Beaten in T-shirts? They different! I would be interested in your outcome, if anyone does tie-dye one of the 'Toner' shirts, because, it would bring them closer to 'sToner' shirts, would they not?

I might contemplate it myself, especially as my other halves most hated thing is my tie-dye shirt!

Oooooo lovely blue burst here .... John .... very fetching

http://www.adventuregraphx.com/tie-dye.html#

I ordered two T-shirts on 19th and they arrived this morning - one white logo on black standard short sleeve T, one gold logo. Efficient service and decent shirts, good printing. Well pleased - thanks for facilitating this, Keiran.

DreamRaven wrote:...if anyone does tie-dye one of the 'Toner' shirts, because, it would bring them closer to 'sToner' shirts, would they not?...

Like, man, the sixties was such a trip...
...I think.

PaulS wrote:I ordered two T-shirts on 19th and they arrived this morning - one white logo on black standard short sleeve T, one gold logo. Efficient service and decent shirts, good printing. Well pleased - thanks for facilitating this, Keiran.

great stuff... I've talked my wife into getting me one of the Westone hoodies for christmas, I may be too old for a hoodie these days but I don't care!!

I see a few more (two or three) orders have recently gone through the Spreadshirt shop.

http://dreamraven.spreadshirt.co.uk/

I, only for marketing purposes, would be interested if anyone here were the people ordering, or, if they got through from other routes...

I am posting this to see if it gains any interest from any newer members who may not have seen the original thread.

Summer is coming, people!!

Stickers, plectrums and shirts, get 'em whilst you are 'toned!

Good looking bird logo - is it silkscreen or heat transfer? I started a thread a few weeks ago mentioning that I have custom Westone shirts in the works (I am the designer / seller of the Electra shirts on that forum). I will eventually get them done... i've just fallen into a pile of work that is paying exceptionally well and my time has been limited to create the products properly. Being a fan of the pointy models, I have Dynasty, Dimension IV and Futura shirt designs that are still "in production" (meaning, I create the vector-based illustrations myself and take a very long time to do them to spec as close as possible). At some point I will get back to these... and some other designs to (PANTERA!!!) I may even have to drive some down to Warrn in Gainesville (since I am an hour away here in Florida / USA).

Heat transfer...

I took a hi-res macro photo of the logo on my Thunder and then traced in Illustrator... Then uploaded it to SpreadShirt, nothing 'Etsy' about it, all pretty much mass-production! Same artwork used for the pleccies, stickers, etc, etc...

I thought that I would put up the 'simple' concept to see how many bites it got, as other than the creation of the logo and setting up of the products in SpreadShirt, it didn't take too much of my time (other than still being sat in front of my LCD at 01:30!). I didn't get my arm ripped off, so I didn't take it further in the whole 'creative endeavours' of different designs, even though I have some ideas still in the back of my cranium...

Would be interested in seeing your designs, if they are available for 'viewage'...

Here are my silkscreened, 100% preshrunk, cotton shirts for the Electra brand:











The designs I have been working on the for the Westone shirts feature silhouettes of the unusual shapes of the pointy models (and Panteras!) and inevitably will include Spectrums and Thunders.

I used to do heat transfers, but they are paper-based and I did not have long-term success with them. I will tell you that it helps to only wash them ONLY in cold water and NEVER to put them in the dryer. They'll do fine if you do... but they last longer if you follow these suggestions. For about ten years I printed heat transfer shirts... probably did around 150 of them (it was a small hobby). Good luck and cheers.

Nice!

If you want a copy of the logo, shout. There's no point in you drawing it as well.

Happy to put a link up on Westone.info when they are ready to go...

The designs I have had done from Spreadshirt have survived quite well. I usually wear one shirt daily, quite often of my designs, washed in 50 or 60 deg C wash. I have a black lOng sleeve shown further up, which doesn't look far off new, almost 2 years after creation... That said, I do prefer silkscreen for 'feel'

I had some fun for a few years working the unofficial Kiss conventions with custom designs - full-color heat transfers. Gene Simmons' attorney was not happy... (this was for a few years before the first reunion of the original lineup... long and interesting story that might bore most, so I will withhold further comment unless prodded gently).

Consider yourself prodded.....

... And if you put the story over in non-Westone, then all will be good and well with the world!!

That black longsleeve is badass.... if I can use that word here on the forum. By the way, I'm in Florida (USA) and have really hard water... like drinking a can of rust, so that may have something to do with the wear and tear on the heat transfer shirts I've done. Didn't mean to come off like I was slamming your shirts or the process - my apologies. Silkscreen is the way to go tho... just darn expensive usually because most printers have a 25+ minimum quantity. I've got a good relationship with a guy that I help out on some design, so he helps me with my shirts. I still make very little money on them, but it makes some folks happy and I get connected with other Electra and Westone people, so that makes this socially-handicapped graphic designer kinda happy. The Westone shirt designs that I am doing will be really badass... if I can say that on this forum

You didn't come across as slammin' anything dude! As is often said, 'your mileage may vary'!

My black long sleever is part of my 'gig uniform' along with a bright (radioactively bright) orange shirt that I did for a mate's band that we often support (I think it is cool when one band wears the shirts of another band on the bill) or my Bat Signal shirt (Rule one: always be yourself, unless you can be Batman, always be Batman!)

I have had a similar experience with some previous shirts, and indeed some Silk Screens that I did for a dive club that I belong to, didn't do so well, and that might have been because they were being worn on a boat, sprayed with salt water, soaked by people jumping in the sea, etc, etc and the ink had some thin lines and small text...

Spreadshirt is good for 'thinner' designs, such as the Westone logo. I got a shirt done with a large, multicoloured complex design, as an experiment for a client, and that didn't work at all. It would certainly have been more successful as a silk screen, but they only wanted three shirts, on a three screen design. What? you only want to pay £12 per shirt, including my time and effort in making the design? I am close to saying 'tough luck, client of mine!' Where as, text and nothing with a large flat area of ink, they work well. They have got a couple of new 'digital print' processes that, whilst do not have the vibrancy of heat transfer, are 'similar' to the silk screen 'feel'.

The best thing is that you can get ONE shirt printed, when it is ordered, rather than having to get 30 or 50 printed and then have them hanging around in a box waiting to be sold. That is what the Westone shirts are. Printed when someone from here remembers that they wanted one (I would still have 30 in a box, if I have got them silk screened! majorly out of pocket then!).

I am looking forward to your BadAss (or if you are in the UK: BadArse) designs. If you ask my other half you would know how much of a sucker I am for a shirt... I don't want to commit to buying one, but when the designs are ready to go, post em up. If they are as BadAss as your Electra ones, I am sure there may be a few that will find their way across the pond...

Having had a conversation with the esteemable Corsair and the fact that my UK shop will not ship to the Australasian continent...

I am in the process of opening a US based t-shirt shop, which will mean that I can ship Worldwide, and the packing costs, along with shirt costs will be notably cheaper for all those people who buy in the US$

I have uploaded the designs to the shop and am awaiting approval from the supplying company. When that happens I will then get the chance to create some products, which will be identical to the UK products, unless anyone has a particular colour way or clothing types that you guys want to buy.

Again, as with plectrums and stickers, they will be priced at cost, so if you want something shout now!

To respond to Corsair's prodding... here's my "Simmons Attorney" story...

This was an advertisement that displayed six of nine T-shirt designs (full-color heat transfers) that I created and sold in the early 1990s. In the world of "Kissdom", there were nine concerts that were pro-shot and widely available at unofficial conventions before the days of "KISSOLOGY" dvd sets. I came up with the idea that each concert was such an event to the serious fan, that they would want shirts commemorating the shows. I researched the shows and created poster-style event designs that listed everything from ticket prices, to the name of the promoters (for shows from 1973-1979), etc. It was not easy, but an enjoyable hobby. All it took was one threatening letter from Gene Simmons attorney to end the fun... one year later, the band regrouped, put on the makeup and started selling shirts at every city with that city's name and date as the only thing on the shirt... The modern ones didn't sell well (I checked after the shows in NYC and JAX), but mine did (HA). Guess you can't intentionally create "history". (Kinda funny... I'm selling the Electra shirts for the same price! Is it 1993?)

~ Oops, sorry Corsair... I put the story here. Sorry, everyone!

Show me the Dynasty shirt...

What would you call a 'Dynasty Shirt'?

There is already a red shirt with a black logo and a black shirt with a red logo... I could do a 'white' (which according to my images is really 'off white' or 'cream') with a red logo...

The black Dynasty appears to have a similar 'off white' logo on the headstock with red text (at least on the models shown on Westone.info), so that is an option too...

Give me colours of shirt and logo, and it shall be done...

Was referring to drsyn67's comment of:

"Being a fan of the pointy models, I have Dynasty, Dimension IV and Futura shirt designs that are still "in production" (meaning, I create the vector-based illustrations myself and take a very long time to do them to spec as close as possible)."

I'd like to see a Red Dynasty on a black shirt, just a silhouette something like this but a little less clean and perfect and more rocker-esque...